The Last Tear
by Shadowed Tear
Summary: A return to the past gone wrong, and suddenly four Lyoko warriors find themselves in another time period. But as they learn more about this mysterious future, they realize it is horribly altered. Can they save not only their lost friend but also her fate?
1. Prologue

**Hey guys, Shadow here. This is my first Code Lyoko fanfiction, but yes, I have been very well informed seeing as I was a HUGE fan from the start. This is the prologue, and it will most likely be longer than the other chapters...well, who knows. Anyways since this story is going to be a couple of chapters long, you guys should just sit back, relax, and hope that I update every week, which I most likely will. ANYWAYS, here is the one, the only, the awesomefullest story...(drumroll please)...The Last Tear (stands back as everyone "oo"s and "aa"s).**

* * *

"Xana's attacking."

"What is it this time?"

"I don't know, but head down to the factory. The others are all here."

"Got it."

* * *

The Overboard whizzed through the icy air, enormous mounds of ice cascading endlessly in all directions around it. The Overwing flew alongside it as the Overbike raced underneath.

"The activated tower is due north."

"Ok, Jeremy. Thanks."

"Any monsters on the way, Einstein?"

"Just a moment." There was a brief moment of silence and clicking sounds could be heard. "That's weird, there's nothing guarding the tower."

"Aww, man, I was hoping to blow something up. Oh well. Xana lucked out this time, didn't he?"

"I guess so."

A few more moments of silence, then: "Jeremy, we've sighted the tower."

"Good. Watch out for any traps though, you never know with Xana."

"Gotcha."

The foursome arrived at the glowing red structure.

"Not a monster in sight," proclaimed the brown-haired boy as he stepped off of the bike.

"Ha! This is too easy," smiled the catlike one as he jumped off the overboard, strolled over to the tower with grace as if he had all the time in the world, and laid a purple paw on it.

"Alright, since you guys are already there, I'm devirtualizing your vehicles."

At the click of a button, the transportation devices disappeared. The two girls jumped from the air.

"Go on, princess."

She nodded. But just as the pink-haired girl ran towards the structures, Ulrich cried out, "Aelita, watch out!" He jumped in front of her and blocked the attack not a moment too soon.

The culprit, a massive Krabe, emerged from behind a chunk of ice as smaller Bloks trialed behind it.

Three words, coated with a sleek layer of hatred, flew out of the oldest girls' mouth, "Where is he?"

The blonde genius on Earth sensed a fiery temper and warned, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Yumi. He might not even come this time."

"He always does."

As if on cue, the handsome, once friendly William flew overhead on a Manta, with two more gliding behind it.

"It's a monster house!" Odd exclaimed, but Yumi wasn't listening. Neither was Ulrich. Their glares were colder than the ice beneath their feet, colder than the air that surrounded them, colder than William's frozen heart, controlled by none other than Xana himself. If looks could kill, William would have died just about seventy-gazillion times.

"I'll handle him!" the two announced in unison. They turned to each other, unsure of what to do, until Odd loudly yelled, "Ok, well, I guess I'll handle pretty boy, right?"

Hesitation overtook emotion, but it wasn't as if they had a choice: Odd was already barreling his way towards William.

"Alright Ulrich, you take care of the Krabe and the Bloks," Yumi pointed towards the monsters, who had their attention on guarding the tower, "And I'll take Aelita around back to deactivate the tower."

The boy nodded, and without another word, the remaining three sped off in two directions.

Ulrich headed for the targets and the monsters, sensing impending danger, prepared themselves in a fighting stance. The first Blok shot a series of lasers, but Ulrich dodged them with grace and ease. "Triplicate!" he cried, and soon three Ulrich Sterns were racing towards one very sorry Blok. "Take that!" he cried as his sword implied itself in the middle of Xana's mark. The Blok exploded in a flurry of fiery mechanical pieces.

Meanwhile, Odd had shot down the last Manta, of which William was riding on. The raven-haired prince jumped down to meet the playboy blonde with hatred in his eyes. Unfortunately at that moment, Odd realized that he was out of Lazerarrows.

"Uh, Jeremy?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you load me up on Laserarrows?"

"Yeah, sure, give me a second."

"Can you hurry up?"

"Odd, I said give me a second!"

"Jeremy, hurry…AHHHHH!!!!!!! JEREMY!!!!!!!!!"

"Loaded!"

"Lazerarrows!" Odd shouted as the three arrows shot from his paw and flew towards William.

William smirked; as if three puny arrows could even touch him. He swung his scythe with ease and blocked the three attacks without even breaking a sweat. This was too easy. He advanced on Odd, who was backing away slowly while shouting, "Backup! Ulrich, buddy, backup! I need backup!"

At the tower, Yumi and Aelita had almost made it. Hiding behind an iceberg, they watched as Ulrich smashed the other Blok to pieces while avoiding every attack the Krabe threw his way. Just as the Krabe was focusing on Ulrich, who was being a distraction and running the other way, Yumi whispered, "Let's go!"

Knowing what she meant, Aelita jumped up and sped towards the tower, with Yumi closely following.

At that point, the Krabe realized that is had fallen into a trap, and it turned towards the two girls speeding towards the tower. As it moved its legs in their direction, Ulrich looked over his shoulder just in time to see the happening. He cursed under his breath, then called out, "Super Sprint!" and soon, he, too was racing towards the tower.

The girls hadn't realized that they were about to be attacked, and the Krabe was in the perfect position. Moments before the attack, Ulrich knew what it was going to do, and yelled, "Yumi, watch out!" The girl turned, but too late; the laser implied itself in her and she vanished in a shower of sparks.

"Yumi!"

"Jeremy," Aelita called out, "Yumi didn't lose any life points; why is she devirtualized already?"

"I don't know, there might be a glitch or something."

"Will she be ok?" Aelita almost smiled as the words came out of Ulrich's mouth; of course Yumi would be ok, but obviously Ulrich wanted to make sure.

"Yeah, as long as it's not like the time when the scanners were down and you guys couldn't devirtualize."

Ulrich blushed at the memory, the time that they had been so close… "Jeremy, is Yumi with you?"

"No, but I'm sure she just hasn't come up yet."

There was silence on Ulrich's end.

"Ulrich?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want me to check if she came back to Earth?"

"That'd be nice."

"Ok guys, I'll be back." There was a clanking, as if someone was tapping the microphone, then a sound like a machine being put back to work; Jeremy had taken the elevator downstairs.

Back on Lyoko, Odd was in trouble. He was, once again, out of Lazerarrows, and Ulrich was too occupied in killing the Krabe and making sure Aelita made it to the tower. Unfortunately, William had realized this too, and using this opportunity as an opening, he gained on Odd.

"Jeremy? Jeremy?!? DUDE, JEREMY!!!!!"

"He's not at the computer!" Odd heard Ulrich from the other side of the tower.

"Ulrich, help me will you?!"

No reply.

"Great friend he is," Odd murmured under his breath.

* * *

"Uh…ouch, what happened…Ulrich, is that you?"

Jeremy had dragged Yumi into the computer room, and was currently lying against the wall; she had just awoken.

"No, Yumi, it's me, Jeremy." He had snickered at the mention of Ulrich's name; of course she would be thinking of him. He continued, "What happened back there? You were out in one shot."

"Yeah, that was weird. I don't really know what happened, and I'm sure I didn't lose any life points."

"You don't feel bad, right? You never know; Xana might have put some sort of virus in you."

"Yeah, I feel alright, just a minor headache." There was a short pause as Jeremy reloaded Odd's Lazerarrows, then Yumi spoke again. "Jeremy, have you figured out what Xana's attack is?"

The boy thought a moment, then sighed, "No, I haven't. I'm worried that the attack is at Kadic or at your house, Yumi. We would never know."

"Do you want me to check out those places? I can't really go back to Lyoko, after all."

"Sure, I guess." Yumi stood up, relieved to be able to do something, and headed towards the elevator.

"Yumi?"

"Yeah, what?"

"If you find anything, call; I'll send backup if needed. The worst we could do is fall into one of Xana's traps again."

The Japanese girl nodded, and then retreated out of the computer room.

* * *

"Aelita, get in the tower, I need to go help out Odd."

"Alright Ulrich."

The brown-haired German had single-handedly defeated the last monster while only losing 20 life points – not bad for a one-on-one battle. Too bad Odd was in major trouble; William was smashing him to bits. Aelita knew that all she had to do was deactivate the tower, and everything wrong, whatever it may be, would return to its normal state.

"Odd! You've got to stop losing life points like that; if you keep it up, you'll be devirtualized in no time!"

"I know!" Odd shouted as he attempted to dodge attacks thrown his way by William, "Don't push me!"

Ulrich, who was speeding his way towards William, shouted towards Jeremy: "Has Yumi called yet?"

"No Ulrich, stop bugging me about that. She'll call if she needs to. Besides, if we do need to devirtualize someone to go and help her, it'll be Odd – he's lost the most life points – so don't get your hopes up about getting to see Yumi."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

At that point, the genius decided to shut up, which of course, was a smart choice, seeing as Ulrich was getting kind of mad.

A few moments later as both Odd and Ulrich attempted to fight off William, Jeremy announced, "Aelita is in the tower. As long as you guys hold out for another few seconds, we'll be good to go."

"Will we launch a return to the past?"

"I don't know; something might have happened and Yumi may be in trouble, and that may be why she hasn't called yet. So yeah, probably."

"Wait, what did you say about Yumi?"

"Nothing Ulrich."

"How much longer do we have to hold out?"

"Just a moment. Aelita, is the tower deactivated?"

"Yes Jeremy."

"Ok, get ready guys. Return to the past…"

"Wait, Jeremy, I think there's something wrong…"

"…NOW!"

* * *

**Ooh! A tiny little cliffhanger...you guys should have seen that one coming. Anyways, I really appriciate you guys reading (yes, even the prologue) my story, and I like reviews, so could you, well, uh, review? It won't take that long, I promise, and if your mom is yelling because it's past your bedtime (again), you can always review when I update my story.**

**ShadowedTear**


	2. Nightwalker

**Hey guys, Shadow here. Sorry for the long wait! I had a lot of homework and... well, actually, I kind of forgot about this for a bit. Yeah, at least I said sorry. Well, (finally) here's the official chapter one, since the last "chapter" was actually the prologue. Ok, let me tell you, at first, this will make no sense whatsoever and won't even sound like it belongs in a Code Lyoko fanfic, but I promise it's part of the story; it'll all come together (like a puzzle) in the end. Well... I think I forgot to do the whole _I do not own Code Lyoko, it's characters blah, blah, blah_ in the last chapter, so... Well, didn't I just do it? Well, yeah. Anyways, (yeah I know you really want me to shut up) here you go, enjoy the story.**

**

* * *

**

I pulled my jacket closer to my chest as the winter wind bit into my skin. Walking along the sidewalk, my footsteps echoed blandly into the empty night. I could only walk outside at this time of day, not thanks to him anyway. If I walked theses streets during broad daylight I would either be killed or kidnapped by my "fans", as he called it.

The grocery store was only a few blocks away, but I feared at any time I could be abducted by some passing bystander; society these days were just like this to people like me. It was so unfair; what had I done wrong?

Frosty white snow crunched beneath my worn sneakers, and it was always like this. It was always winter. Always. I had heard stories, read old books, seen past pictures of newborn springs, warm summers, colorful autumns, but I never knew what a full year actually felt like. No sun. No warmth. No fields of flowers or changing-colored leaves. It was plain all year long. Just winter. No spring. No thanks to him, anyways.

A wandering car sped past me, and I pulled my black hair across my face. Nobody could see me. Nobody ever did. Nobody ever would. And no thanks to him.

The bell clanged as I walked into the store. The dim light guided me to the bread shelf, then the milk fridge, to the cheese isle, to the poultry section. I took a plastic bag, stuffed my items in it and placed ten dollars on the cash register as the cashier nodded in approval. He knew me, but he didn't hate me. I always wondered why, and wondered if everyone else could just be a little more like him.

I stepped outside, a week's lunch in hand. The eerie moon cast a dark shadow across the road, daring me to cross it. I did, hoping against hope nobody was lurking in the shadows, ready to run me over. The world was cruel. Anyone would agree. At least, everyone would believe the world was cruel to me. From the day I was born to the moment when I stood here under the gates to this military school, the world has been cruel.

Kadic Military Academy was another thing. Some people from past generations have told stories of of a happy schoolhouse, gossiping girls, cute guys, crazy teachers and mysterious school lunches, but what stood here before me was the total opposite. What used to be the safe haven for all ages was now a torture place where he ruled. It was always him.

I wasn't allowed inside the gates, so I kept walking, past intimidating signs and gruesome shops, past uncleaned sidewalks and a bumpy road. After a while I sped up my pace because I felt that someone - or something - was following me. Its feet clattered on the sidewalk, and I could almost hear its panted breaths as it chased after me. My house was only a few more blocks away, I would be somewhat safer there. I could see it from here, so I risked turning to see who or what was chasing me. I stopped; nobody was there.

"Hello?" I called unsurely. I was almost positive that it was behind that light post. Why hadn't it killed me yet? "If you're going to do something, do it now; I'm defenseless."

A dog, no bigger than the loaf of bread in my bag, emerged in the moonlight, wagging its tail. It was a grayish-white color, but I didn't know exactly what kind of dog it was; I didn't come out often, after all.

It looked innocent enough, so I approached it, but still cautious. "Hey little guy," I smiled, getting close to it, "Are you lost?"

The dog stared at me with interest and wagged its tail. I gently scratched its head. It wagged its tail more affectionately, enjoying the attention. I noticed a collar around its neck, which looked old and rather faded.

"Hey boy, can I see that?" The dog stuck its tongue out, so I took that as a 'yes'. I gently lifted the dog tag so I could see the engravings, which were rather unclear. I could make out a few letters, though, and read them aloud. "It says... Odd? Odd Dell... this is so hard to read! Odd... is that a street name or... hey wait!"

The little dog had suddenly taken off, but I hesitated to follow. I needed to find that dog's owner and return it to them; maybe then people would see that I wasn't bad. But if he found out I was late... I turned to looked at the house... There was always time for an excuse.

I ran after the dog.

* * *

**Great, now I can hear all of you complaining, "Wait! That was a short chapter!" Chill out! I'm already writing the second chapter, which means that I can probably have it uploaded by New Year's Eve. Probably. No promises though! And really, it's not all that short, just longer paragraphs to make it look short.**

**Can you guys guess who the "mystery character" is? No, you don't have to guess the name, but, as you should probably know by now, this is in the future, which means this is most likely the second generation of Lyoko warriors... just maybe. So can you guess who it is? Yeah, use your "context clues" (that's what they call them in school). Whoever guesses right gets a cookie!**

**Well, since it is the holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa (I'm sorry if I left off anyone's holiday!) and Happy New Year! 2010 is going to be great!**


	3. Escape

**Hey everyone! ShadowedTear here, sorry about the 4-month-long delay in the story. Kinda busy, you know? But yeah, I'm finally back (with a better keyboard and computer, I might add) and I'm ready to write! Unfortunately, I kinda threw away the paper with this chapter already written on it (teehee, sorry!) and I'm kind of going with the flow here; whatever comes to my mind is whatever goes down on the paper! And before I forget, I do not own Code Lyoko, its characters or its storyline; Code Lyoko belongs to someone that is rich and famous, which I'm clearly not. So without further ado ... (drumroll) ... here's the official chapter two of this story!**

* * *

The grocery bag bounced against my leg as I trialed behind the little white dog. Every so often, it would turn around, as if to check I was still there, and then continue once it was sure that I was still behind it. I noticed little things as I walked that I hadn't noticed about my surroundings before: that the sky was not black, but a navy blue at night; that the tree's bark was rugged and not smooth at all; that some metal fences were greyish and some were a worn, auburn color.

I didn't realize that something was wrong until realization hit me full in the face.

Literally.

Rubbing my head, which was throbbing painfully, I glanced up at the tree branch that had caught me unexpectedly. Then I realized something. I was in the woods ... and the closest forest nearby was ... _Kadic_.

I stood up so abruptly that my head spun for a little while. After recovering, I did a one-eighty. There it was, in plain sight. Why hadn't I seen the sign? _Kadic Military Acadamy_, the gate read. I had been too caught up following the dog that I hadn't noticed where I was. He would surely kill me for this.

Wait ... but, where was the dog? I figured I had lost the poor creature, when all of a sudden I heard a loud bark from behind me. I jumped a little, and was about to bolt back home, but then I heard voices coming down the path.

"Came from somewhere down here, I think," a gruffy male voice claimed as I darted behind a bush.

"Yes, yes, but what I can't believe is that one of our students would _dare_ bring a dog into the school," another added, his voice higher with a drawl, "And once I get my hands on that infernal beast, no telling what I'll do to it. Target practice, I daresay?"

I stifled a gasp as the first man began to speak again. "Or just turn the student and the dog in to the Leader, better off for us, you know."

A flashlight beam came into view along the walkway, and I shrunk deeper into the bush. Suddenly, something nudged my side. I looked down to see the dog staring back up at me.

"Shh!" I told it. It whimpered a little bit, and retreated deeper into the forest. I took a deep breath, looked up once again to see that the two men were still rather far away, and moved after the dog.

It lead me deeper into the forest, where the trees grew thickly. Then, abruptly, we came to a clearing. The ground was matted with snow, but the dog was digging carelessly in the white frost.

"Stop it!" I hissed, "Then they'll know you were here!"

It didn't seem to hear me, but continued to dig.

"Stop it, will you?!" I pleaded. The voices were coming nearer.

It continued to dig.

Then I realized something. Under the snow, the unearthed soil has writing on it. Maybe this dog was trying to tell me something ...

I bent down and began to dig with my bare hands. The soil was very hard, almost like a metal ...

It was a metal. The writing was engraved on a manhole cover, and the metal seemed very worn, nothing like the forever shiny, new manhole covers that spanned the rest of the city. The writing too was ... different.

"Hey, I think I see footprints here." It was the two men again, and they were dangerously close.

"Pawprints, you mean?"

"Nah, actual footprints." I stifled a gasp.

"Which means ..."

"Students out of bed! It's way past curfew. Oh, once I get me hands on them, they're going straight to the Master!"

They shuffled closer towards us, and I realized that I was stuck. I could either risk running for it, or I could ... I could get in the sewer. I didn't like the idea, but it was the best option. Plus, I could take the dog with me.

As quietly as possible, I removed the lid to the manhole and coaxed the dog into the shopping bag full of groceries. Then, I decended down into the sewers.

The rusty ladder downwards told me that, already, I was in an older part of the city. As my foot hit the cement ground, my thoughts were confirmed: I was in a different sewage system.

I had hidden in the city sewers many times before, as to evade a group of kidnappers, and found myself in a rather dark place with curves around every corner. The underground had been lit, of course, deisgned so I could get back home safely, with cement steps emerging randomly from the walls on all sides. The ceiling had been very high, and the sides of the sewer were surprisingly clean. A gruesome river of sewage ran down one side of the structure, fed by little holes in the wall that I could only imagine came from the reidential buildings up above.

The sewer I was currently in was nothing of the sort. There were lights in some places, flickering from lack of power for many years at the least, but it was enough for me to make out my surroundings. The ceiling was certianly lower than the newer one, and the side of the underground was coated with a thin sheet of grime. A river of sewage ran in between two walkways on either side, and mice and bugs scuttled at my feet. This sewer seemed to lack proper cleaning, as if nobody seemed to care about it, as if nobody even seemed to know ...

The dog's bark woke me from my daydream. It had jumped from the grogery bag, and was suddenly sprinting ahead.

"Hey! Don't go!"

Its bark echoed back to me, and I was out of options. I followed.

The dog lead me every which way. Around one corner, past another light, over a small little stream of filthy water we ran. I didn't even stop to think that I was following a dog, and that it probably wasn't the smartest idea to be doing so.

We had run for about five minutes when the little doggie suddenly came to a halt. I saw why: it was a dead end.

"Great," I mumbled, "Now how are we supposed to get back?"

But the dog had an answer. It began to bark, and I didn't realize why until I looked up.

There was another ladder leading up the side of the wall. I smiled. That would be my ticket out. So once again I coaxed the dog into my shopping bag, and began to climb the ladder up to the top.

I didn't realize until later that there were two skateboards and two scooters at the base of the ladder. I didn't even stop to think about it until it was almost too late.

* * *

**Ok, so how was that? Not bad, huh? Well, the only way I'll know is if you tell me right? So go on, it's a pretty cute button, go and press it. Anyways, I have some time now, and I plan to have my next chapter up by next week at the very most. How's that sound to you guys? Ok, well ta-ta for now. See you around!**

**ShadowedTear**


	4. Discovery

**Hey guys, Shadow here. I'm so sorry that I haven't written since last April, and I hope I can write more often because, well, it's fun. :) Sorry to keep you guys waiting, so without further ado, here is Chapter 4!**

* * *

I emerged from the manhole, and almost immediately the dog ran towards the building before me. I took my time taking in my surroundings, and I realized we were deep within one of the forbidden areas of the city, surrounded by towering trees and dusty grime. I turned my attention to what loomed before me.

The building was enormous. Its walls were coated in a thick layer of ivy, sprawling every which way so that it almost covered the building. Miraculously, however, the entrance was left free of plants, which I found both odd and spooky. A river of grime ran below me and around this building, isolating it like a little island.

The dog barked twice and lead me towards the entrance of the building. I did not understand why it lead me here; didn't the animal know that this was forbidden territory; that nobody that came in alive ever came back out?

I imagined what he would say to all of this. He would punish me as he would punish everyone else, he made that clear. But I had not known, I was lead here, I was innocent; certainly, he would make an excuse for his only daughter?

I decided to follow the creature into the building. I did not recognize it, and as I ventured into the rusty, old place I realized that there was not a stairwell that lead towards the bottom floor, but ropes that seemed far too fragile to carry anything but a human. The dog barked again and jumped into my bag.

"What?" I asked, quited confused, "You want me to go down there?"

The dog barked twice.

I was already doing many stupid things at once, so I decided to do one more and give it a try. I took a running start and held onto the rope, shaking horribly, and slid down to the bottom floor.

The ground was coated with dust, and I landed with a distant _thump_, sending dust particles flying into the air. The dog hopped out of my bag, trailing paw prints in the dust, and ran towards what looked like a large metal box. It propped itself up on its hind legs, and pressed what seemed to be a large red button.

Suddenly, a long, grinding groan issued out of the box, and it opened. I had never before seen something like this, and I was absolutely fascinated. The dog hopped into the box, and I followed with astonishment. Once in the metal box, the animal once again propped itself on its hinds legs and hit some buttons. The box closed - I was scared stiff - and suddenly began to descend.

I had never before been in one of these, and I half expected this to be some kind of deathtrap. But, a few terrifying moments later, the doors opened once again, and I was standing in the middle of a room with an odd machine in the middle of it. The dog ran ahead of me, and hopped on a strange lever. It bounded back towards me, and I caught a slight view of the huge machine suddenly whirring to life before the box closed and descended once again.

This time, I entered a larger room. There was lots of empty space in the this one, and bars spanned the ceiling. I focused my attention to what was in the middle of the room.

It looked like a huge arm from a distance connected to the ceiling. At the end of the arm were three screens, and a keyboard for typing. A chair was propped up in front of these screens, and it was connected to a metal rod that seemed could revolve around some sort of holographic projector.

I stared in awe. The holographic projector was projecting something like a 3D earth. However, when I looked closely, I realized it was not Earth at all, but some mysterious, foreign planet.

The dog barked again and sped towards the foot of the chair. There it sat obediently, waiting for me to come towards it.

I proceeded cautiously, but once I realized there was nothing to be feared I sat contently in the chair, stiff with rust and dust, and pressed a button the keyboard just for the fun of it.

A sudden creaking sound issued from below me, and I squeaked and sat up abruptly from my chair. The screen had suddenly lit - all three of them - and simultaneously a light came from a small trapdoor I had not noticed before.

The dog ran over to the trapdoor and began to bark hysterically.

"Stop!" I cried, "Stop! You're being far too loud!"

The dog continued to bark.

I had no choice; what could I do? I coaxed the dog into the grocery bag, opened up the trapdoor and descended the stairwell.

I was shocked to find four kids, no older than myself, sprawled on the ground. The dog leapt out of my bag with earnest and ran towards a boy with an odd - and strangely familiar - triangle of blonde hair. It began barking again.

The blonde boy stirred. "Hey, Kiwi, nice to see you, buddy," he mumbled, sitting up. He sensed my presence, then nodded curtly in my direction.

I did not understand. This boy seemed to know who I was, and yet, I knew I had not ever met him before.

"Odd, would you please tell your dog to quiet down a little bit?" a pink-haired girl sighed and sat up as well.

My heart was beating very fast. Where had I heard a tale about five kids in an abandoned factory, once of which had dazzling pink hair?

"What am I doing down here?" another blonde boy inquired, adjusting his glasses, "One moment I was at my computer, the next moment..." His voice trailed off when he saw me. "All was well then?" he asked. I looked back at him in fear.

I suddenly realized where this story was from...

The brown-haired boy stirred, and confirmed my deepest fear.

"Yumi?" he asked drowsily, "Is that you, Yumi?"

"No," I said very quietly, "I am Rose. Rose ... Dunbar."

...it was the story of my dead mother.

Yumi Ishiyama.

* * *

**Woohoo! What a cliffy! I really liked the ending to that one, didn't you? Well, only one way to tell me... REVEIW TIME! Thank you, by the way, to all who take the time to review, I greatly appriciate it. :)**

**Well, until next time! ~ShadowedTear~**


	5. Realization

**It's Shadow again! Yes, I know I haven't updated in forever, and I truely am sorry, but to make up for it, here's a pretty long chapter! (It's long by my standards, ok?) Anyways, since I didn't do this in the last chapter, here's the disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko or any of its characters or anything else related to it although that would be extremely awesome. Here's chapter 5!**

* * *

"Dunbar?" Odd Della Robbia inquired, stroking the little white dog, "Real funny, Yumi, real funny. Honestly, I haven't heard you joke about _him_ in just about, well, never, now that I think about it. I thought you 'forbid the use of the name' around you or something? Sheesh, what a hypocrite."

Aelita Stones smacked him upside the head. "Speak for yourself, Odd. You're the most hypocritical of us all. Yumi was just kidding, weren't you, Yumi?"

I looked timidly at the four teens before me and said in a barely audible whisper, "I told you already, I'm not Yumi. I'm Rose. Rose Dunbar. Yumi Ishiyama ... was my mother."

They stared back at me, dumbfounded. Jeremy Belpois suddenly cleared his throat and stated, "You know, I think she's been brainwashed or something. Maybe Xana did put a virus in her after all."

"She definately doesn't look like herself. Are you feeling alright, Yumi?"

"No!" I cried, distressed, "I'm not feeling alright at all! And I don't look like Yumi because _I'm not Yumi_!"

The blonde genius and the pink haired maiden glanced momentarily at each other before declaring unanimously, "She's getting into a scanner. Odd, Ulrich, help us, will you?"

"No!" I shouted in the loudest voice I could muster, "I am _not _going in a scanner, because even if I do, the virtualization won't work on me because I'm not Yumi! Look at me," I demanded to the four of them, "Look at me and tell me that my mother never wore her hair braided down her back like me because that's _exactly_ what my father wanted! Look at me and tell me that my mother never wore the slightest bit of green or pink or purple or blue or any of the other million colors because they reminded her too much of you! Look at me and tell me that the real Yumi Ishiyama wouldn't be standing in front of you, yelling at you, trying to tell you that she's not Yumi Ishiyama! Look at me and tell me ... anything."

Ulrich Stern, who had scarcely said a word since he met me, now stood up and observed me with his peircing glances, and stopped as his bright green eyes met mine.

"You're not Yumi." It was not a question; it was a statement, said like a fact.

I merely nodded. "You beleive me?"

"You didn't need to say all that to convince me. I knew you weren't Yumi from the very start."

"How?"

"Your eyes. They're green."

I smiled slightly. "My father never liked my eyes. He said it was strange how I could inherit green eyes from parents whose ancestry never showed a trace of it. My mom loved them though. I think it reminded her of you."

"Where is she now?"

"Gone," I whispered, voice choked slightly.

"Gone? To where?"

"On." The familiar prickling on the edges of my eyes began again.

"... What?"

"Ulrich," Aelita started, lips quivering, "I think ... I think she means -" A tear traced down her cheek, and the brown haired boy finally seemed to understand.

_Dead. Yumi Ishiyama, the girl who loved you unconditionally, whom you loved beyond all else, dead._

* * *

It took them a while to beleive me, and even longer for them to accept it. Afterwords, I had to explain to them how much the world had changed in these breif thirty years (while sharing my just-brought bread and cheese amongst the six of us, Kiwi included) and how my father was the dictator of it all. I had to explain how the once glistening planet of Earth had been reduced to bleakness and coldness, with nothing but the daily rations to look forward to. The only season was winter, I told them, and during the day the sun only shined for three hours, which allowed some of the wheat crops in the neighboring fields to grow. Kadic had been transformed completely into a madatory military academy that brainwashed children of all ages into serving my father, who was to be referred to as variations of "Master" at all times. The shops on the streets sold only necessary items; old luxuries like television and microwaves were allowed only in families that faithfully served my father. Aside for a few exceptions, no ordinary person was allowed outside after 6:00pm and before 7:00am, which helped serve as a protective measure for me. Forbidden areas were everywhere, and one wrong turn could land you in prison for eternity or lead to death, usually involving a shot through the head or a specific poison. The latter was most commonly used, for prisons were filling up at exponential rates and head wounds usually bled too much and sometimes didn't kill.

"William, huh?" Odd sighed as he stuffed another block of cheddar in his mouth, "I didn't think he would turn out _that_ bad. I mean, he was always kind of the troublemaker, but world domination? Seriously? That sounds like something Xana would do."

"He's very strange," I said timidly, slowly chewing on the crust of my bread, "Sometimes, he's calm and collected and usually pushes off all the reports of felonies and misdemeanors and lets most of them go. He even calmed down enough once to read me a bedtime story. But occationally he'll get in such a foul mood that he'll go around giving orders to kill everyone living on a certain street for no reason. Usually though, he's in between the two. It's very wierd, don't you think?"

Jeremy and Aelita glanced quickly at each other, his eyes wide and alert and her eyebrows raised in a high arc. They turned back just as quickly.

The slow sound of chewing filled the room once again as the five of us went silent.

It was Jeremy who broke the silence this time. "Rose, how do you seem to know about Lyoko? You didn't question us when we mentioned Xana and earlier you mentioned 'virtulization'. It seems as though you know about it."

I smiled breifly. "Mom talked about her adventures on Lyoko alot. Only to me, though, because she didn't want Dad going in a rage again. Before she died, that's almost all she talked about. Whenever she had time, and whenever Dad was out, she would tell me all about it. So ... I know."

"But Jeremy," Ulrich said suddenly, "How was it that we were stuck in Lyoko for thirty years and Yumi wasn't? It doesn't make sense, does it? You weren't on Lyoko either, so how come she was the only one who was able to progress with time?"

"I don't know," the blonde replied, "It might've been a complex virus or a barrier around the factory - I don't know yet, but that's what we've got to figure out if we want to go back."

We ate in silence for a few moments longer. Ulrich was the one to speak up this time.

"Rose, I want to ask you, and tell me only if you know for sure ... Who killed Yumi?"

I forced a smiled and an apology, because even though I knew, I wasn't about to tell them. They would run off and try to find him and kill him, and for thier own safety, they absolutely could not do that.

It was the ironic fact that they were sitting on precicely the spot where my father had killed my mother.

* * *

**That took a while to write! I would really appriciate it if you lovely readers would click the nice little button down there and write a line or two. Even a word or two! (But I'd prefer a line or two :D.) Anywho, I'll try to update as soon as possible, because honestly I really like this story and we really have to get to the nice action-y parts of it.**

**Please read over any misspelled words, because it seems as though FanFiction has gotten rid of the Spell Check button and I would seriously die without it. If anyone has any idea on where it went, kindly notify me :).**

**Hope you guys are having a fabulous summer and make sure to wear sunscreen! :D**

**ShadowedTear**


End file.
